“It’s difficult to put into words and describe the attachment that has developed over the past two years. This is a terrible loss, especially for the elephant keepers and veterinary medical staff who cared for Mac during his time with us.”

Elephant keepers alerted the zoo’s veterinarians the morning of Nov. 9 when they saw indications that Mac was exhibiting initial symptoms of elephant herpesvirus.

“Our keepers perform regular inspections of all our elephants and are trained to look for indications such as loss of appetite, lethargy, and swelling in certain areas of the head,” Hill said.

A veterinary medical team immediately began administering Famciclovir, an antiviral medication that has shown some limited success in past elephant herpes cases, Hill said. Despite the early intervention and the best efforts of the Zoo’s keepers and veterinary staff, Mac died at approximately 8:30 p.m., with his mother Shanti and Aunt Methai at his side.

Mac enjoyed interacting with his keepers and proved to be a good student, learning more than 30 “behaviors,” activities that provided exercise for him and gave his keepers the tools they needed to care for him, Hill said.